Lubricating pads for railway car journals



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 5, 1962 R. s. BROOKS ETAL LUBRICATING PADS FORRAILWAY CAR JOURNALS Filed Feb. 29, 1960 for 1?. 5.540010 nuexe F.LBERR/DGE I I, 4 i 1 76- I J flfiz/lfeyr June 5, 1962 R. s. BROOKS ETALLUBRICATING PADS FOR RAILWAY CAR JOURNALS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb.29, 1960 Due/45ft? 6.31? o 0 K6 LBERRIDGE Unite tates 3,037,829LUBRICATING PADS FOR RAILWAY CAR JOURNALS Robert S. Brooks and FrederickL. Berridge, Montreal,

Quebec, Canada, assignors to Joseph Robb & Co.,

Limited, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Feb. 29, 1960, Ser. No. 11,650 4Claims. (Cl. 308-243) This invention relates to journal lubricators ofthe type comprising a resilient pad or packing to ensure positive supplyof lubricating oil to the journals of railway vehicles or the like.

In the conventional railway vehicles the journal extends into a journalbox having an oil reservoir packed with waste. Lubricating oil is pouredinto the bottom of the journal box which acts as a reservoir, the oilbeing supplied to the journal by capillary action in the waste. After aperiod of operation the waste sets in the bottom of the journal box, outof contact with the journal, so that the journal is no longerlubricated. Continued movement of the car under such conditions resultsin great friction and heat, and causes hot boxes.

More recently the waste packing of journal boxes of railway cars hasbeen replaced by a resilient oil retaining pad which to a certain extentovercomes the above mentioned disadvantages. It is the object of thepresent invention to provide an improved pad which ensures without failpermanent lubrication of the journal.

The pad in accordance with the invention consists essentially of anouter tubular core of generally elliptical cross-section, arranged withits axis transverse to the axis of the journal; an endless ellipticalspring is contained in the outer core and extends longitudinally of thejournal; also contained in the outer core, and encircled by the spring,is an inner core. The three elements mentioned above, namely the outerand innercores and the spring are preferably used in combination, but itis considered to be within the scope of the invention to use acombination of any two of them; thus the outer core and spring may beused without the inner core, the outer and inner cores without thespring, and the inner core and spring without the outer core.

Whichever of the four combinations mentioned above is used, the whole iscontained in an outer covering of oil permeable, wear resistant fabric,comprising pulls for removing the pad. Two or three individual padsections connected together lengthwise are preferably used according tothe invention, but single pads or combinations of four or more are notexcluded.

Two embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example inthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-section of a conventional journal box containing a padaccording to a first embodiment of the invention, made in threesections, the view being taken on line 11 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section of an identical journal box, taken on line 3-3of FIG. 2, but containing a pad according to a second embodiment of theinvention, made in two sections;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the cores and spring.

Referring to the drawings, numeral represents a conventional journal boxhaving side walls 11 and a generally concave bottom wall 12. Projectinginto the journal box through an opening 13 in the rear thereof is ajournal 14 having an end flange 15. The journal is adapted to support arailway car by means of convenice.

2 tional journal bearings (notshown) riding on the upper surface of thejournal.

The pad according to the invention comprises an outer chenille covering16 of quality cotton tufted on a strong canvas backing washed andpreshrunk to size. The covering should be wear and glaze resistant andoil permeable. If two or more pad sections are provided, as shown in thedrawings, the covering may consist of a continuous wide strip ofrectangular shape looped and stitched togcther to form the severalsections.

As shown in FIG. :1, strong wick pulls 17 are sewn to the covering 16 topermit easy removal of the pad. Brass grommets may be used instead ofthe pulls 17.

In accordance with the invention it is preferable to provide two orthree pad sections as shown respectively in FIGS. 3 and 1. The internalstructure of each pad section is the same in either case, except that iftwo sections are provided they are of the same size, whereas if thereare three sections, the central one is somewhat larger than the two sidesections, in order to suit present journal box designs.

Each section of the covering 16 contains an outer tubular ellipticalcore 18 arranged with its axis transverse to the axis of the journal 14and to the axis of the looped section of covering 16; the ends of thesections are partly closed by canvas strips '19 to retain the core 18,the strips leaving however, open spaces on either side to allow easyaccess of the oil to the core 18.

An endless elliptical flat spring 20* is contained within each outercore 18 and extends longitudinally of the journal 14, namely, with itsaxis transverse to the journal. Also contained in the outer core 18, andencircled byv the spring 20, is an inner core 21. The spring 20 haspreferably a fabric facing 22 externally thereon to prevent its cuttingthe outer core 18.

The outer and inner cores 18 and 21 are of the same material, namely aresilient, oil retaining sponge, preferably of polyurethane foam,

The combination of outer and inner cores and spring in accordance withthe invention provides particular advantages. The two cores give amaximum of oil retention, and the inner core and the spring cooperate toexpand the outer core and to keep the covering in contact with thejournal under a slight pressure. The oil passes through the covering andis continuously supplied to the journal ensuring constant lubrication.

The pad is furthermore reversible, which doubles its useful life, andflexible for easy installation and removal.

As mentioned p-reviously,it is considered to be within the scope of theinvention to omit any single one of the elements contained within thecovering. Such simplified structure still offers a large part of theadvantages of the invention. Thus the inner core 21 may be left out; oilretention is then somewhat less, and to obtain the same pressure of thecovering on the journal the spring has to be more rigid. If on the otherhand the spring is omitted, the pad has to be compressed to a greaterextent if the pressure is to be the same. It is also possible to omitthe outer core; in this case the spring acts directly on the chenillecovering together with the inner core.

It is understood that in all cases the pressure of the pad on thejournal can be suitably adjusted by calibrating the spring and byproviding core combinations of thickness properly proportioned to thedimensions of the journal box.

The invention is limited not to the above described embodiments, butonly by the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A lnbricator for railway journals having an axle, an axle bearing anda journal box providing an oil well,

a multi-lobe lubricating pad located in said journal box and conformingto the surface of the lower half of said axle and to the adjacent wallof the journal box, the said lubricating pad comprising an outer fabriccovering tufted on its outer surface, the said covering being stitchedto form a series of separate tubular compartments whose axes aredisposed parallel to the axis of said axle, an outer tubular core of oilretaining, resilient material in each of said separate tubularcompartments, the axis of said outer tubular cores being transverse tothe axes of the said separate tubular compartments, an elliptical shapedspring member Within each of said outer tubular cores, the said springmembers having their axes parallel with the axes of said outer tubularcores, and an inner core of oil retaining, resilient material withineach of said outer cores and springs. i

2. A lubrieator' for railway journals as set forth in claim 1, in whichthe said elliptical springs are of relatively narrow width and. areembedded on all surfaces between the said outer and inner cores. i

3. A lubricator for railway journals as set forth in lar compartmentsare partly closed off by core retaining resilient members.

:References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,810,443 Steurs June 16, 1931 2,568,854 Greeley Sept. 25, 19512,886,381 Sale May 12, 1959 2,915,343 Lukens Dec. 1, 1959 Rockwell June7, 1960 9 OTHER REFERENCES M'agnus, published in Railway Age, June 22,1959, pages "24 and 25 relied upon.

